Centrifuge bottle and closure therefor



March 25, 1969 A. J. BARLETTA 3,434,615

CENTR IFUGE BOTTLE AND CLOSURE THEREFOR Filed Sept. 11. 1967 Shee t of 2 FIG] fi .r s I "I INVENTPOR ANTHONY J. BARLETTA BY, a

ATTORN EY March 25, 1969 A. J. BARLETTA 3,434,615

CENTRIFUGE BOTTLE AND CLOSURE THEREFOR Filed Sept. 11, 1967 Sheet 2 of 2 /6 E5 90 El 9 9 FIGB E3 "8:? he a I; I 8 6A I I? 1 I i i I? J" INVENTOR ANTHONY J. BARLETTA ATTORNEY United States Patent US. Cl. 21547 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Plastic centrifuge bottle having a portion of its wall tapering outwardly to the mouth, a closure tapering inwardly towards its mouth-entering end and carrying a plurality of sealing rings, and means to attach the closure to the bottle and to render the seals eflective.

Plastic centrifuge bottles are widely used and are satisfactory to the extent they can be sealed against leakage while their contents are being centrifuged. One particular problem is that even when the upper part of the bottle is rigidly held in a jacket and the closure seated by a cap threaded on the jacket in accordance with Patent No. 3,265,296, for example, the sealing means sometimes fail.

The particular objective of the present invention is to provide a closure-bottle construction providing a seal of substantially increased effectiveness. In accordance with the invention, this objective is attained by tapering the upper end portion of the inner surface of the bottle outwardly to the mouth thereof and by providing a closure in the form of a stopper tapering inwardly towards its mouth-entering end. The closure has a plurality of annular grooves each supporting a sealing ring, the sealing rings being brought into effective sealing relationship with the tapered portion of the bottle by closure attaching means attached to the bottle.

In the accompanying drawings, there is shown an illustrative embodiment of the invention from which these and other of its objectives, novel features, and advantages will be readily apparent.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a centrifuge bottle in accordance with the invention, and the bottle-closing means therefor, the bottle-closing means being shown as detached from the bottle and its parts separated from each other.

FIGURE 2 is a vertically sectioned view on an increase in scale of the closure and of the upper part of the bottle, the closure being partly entered into the mouth of the bottle, and

FIGURE 3 is a view on the scale of FIGURE 2 but with the closure so clamped to the bottle as to render its sealing rings effective.

A centrifuge bottle is generally indicated at 5 and is shown 5 having a neck 6 provided with external threads 7 and establishing a shoulder 8. The bottle 5 has a relatively flexible wall structure as it is molded from a suitable plastic such, for example, as polyethylene, polypropylene, or a polycarbonate. As may best be seen in FIG- URES 2 and 3 the inner surface of the neck 6 is tapered outwardly as at 6A to the mouth 9 of the bottle 5.

A reinforcing jacket, generally indicated at 10 and preferably of metal, has a neck 11 formed with internal threads 12 and external threads 13, a portion 14 extending below the bottle shoulder 8 and an internal, intermediate shoulder 15 engagealble therewith. The internal threads 12 enable the jacket 10 to be threaded onto the bottle 5 until its shoulder 15 engages the shoulder 8, the

37,434,615 Patented Mar. 25, 1969 upper end of the jacket neck 11 then being below the mouth 9 of the bottle.

A closure, generally indicated at 16 and made of a suitable auto-claveable and clinically inert plastic, Delvin, a product of E. I. du Pont de Nemours: & Company, Inc., for example, includes a stopper portion 17 that is tapered inwardly towards its bottle-entering end. The stopper portion 17 has annular grooves 18 and 19 for the compressible sealing rings 20 and 21, respectively. The closure 16 also has a marginal flange 22 of a diameter greater than the inside diameter of the jacket neck 11 but less than the inside diameter of the generally indicated cap 23 which is interiorly threaded as at 24 for attachment to the jacket neck .11 and has an annular internal flange 25 engagea-ble with the closure flange 22 so that, as the cap 23 is threaded onto the jacket neck 11, the closure 16 will be securely seated.

It will be noted that the stopper portion 17 of the closure 16 is so dimensioned that its bottle-entering end is a free fit in the portion 6A of the bottle 5 and that when it has been advanced therein to an extent suitably compressing the sealing rings 20 and 21, the stopper portion 17 does not contact the portion 6A and the flange 22 does not engage the bottle mouth 9. Desirably, 'both the portion 6A and the portion 17 taper to the same degree, best results being obtained with a taper that is approximately 3 from the vertical.

With the construction provided by the invention the sealing rings 20 and 21 are compressed. approximately to the same extent with the ring 20 backing the sealing ring 21 and with the sealing ring 21 ensuring that the full pressure on it is not transferred to the sealing ring 20, even should leakage occur.

I claim:

1. In combination, a plastic centrifuge bottle, a portion of the inner surface of the bottle tapering outwardly to the mouth thereof, a closure in the form of a stopper tapering inwardly towards its mouth-entering end and having a plurality of grooves, 21 compressible sealing ring in each groove, and means to clamp said closure to the bottle, the axial extents of said bottle portion and of said stopper being such that said rings are compressed against said bottle portion when the closure is so clamped and the dimensions of the stopper being such that it is then substantially without contact with said bottle portion.

2. The combination of claim 1 in which the bottle has threads adjacent its mouth and the sealing rings are substantially in the zone of the threads.

3. The combination of claim 1 in which the taper of the bottle portion is approximately 3 4. The combination of claim 1 in which the taper of the bottle portion and of the stopper is approximately the same.

5. The combination of claim 1 in which the taper of the bottle portion and of the stopper is approximately 3.

6. The combination of claim 1 in which the closure includes a marginal flange dimensioned to overlie the mouth of the bottle.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,848,130 8/1958 Jesnig 215-47 XR 2,330,282 7/1967 Visser et al 215-47 XR 3,366,320 1/1968 Cho 233-46 GEORGE T. HALL, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 215-97; 233-26 

